Filmed in Saigon in 1970, this documentary observes the effects of the Vietnam War on daily life away from the battlefield. Through the perspectives of three young American journalists, the film records encounters with street children, refugees, bar workers, and aid efforts shaped by the American presence in the city.
White audiences saw Peola’s mixed-race passing as a Black woman’s struggle to be white. Black audiences saw it as the rebellion of a Black woman trying to gain privileges only given to white people.
A 2022 remake of the previous films of the same name, but with a more diverse cast, increasing representation and diversity.
Over the last several years, I have had the privilege of being one of the critics having the opportunity to watch and review several films from writer/director/producer Marcellus Cox, whose efforts are never anything less but grounded, relevant, and steeped in unflinching glimpses illustrating the gripping, inspired, and ever-vacillating realms that make up the human condition.
It was always people for Joe, and he ultimately found them at the end of a long, painful, yet illuminating quest for self-discovery outside of one, confident constant - his bisexuality.
'The Invisible Man' triumphs in tension even as it drops the ball on genuine surprise for the audience.
